The new page is a work in progress with plans for still more to come

- I'm just still trying to figure out exactly what that might be -

so check back from time to time, please.

See you there!

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

A New Ride by Evelyn David

The author of Murder Off the Booksand Murder Takes the Cake, Evelyn David is the pseudonym for Marian Edelman Borden and Rhonda Dossett. Marian lives in New York and is the author of ten nonfiction books on a wide variety of topics ranging from veterans benefits to playgroups for toddlers! For more information on these books, please visit her web site at http://www.marianedelmanborden.com. Rhonda lives in Muskogee, Oklahoma, is the director of the coal program for the state, and in her spare time enjoys imagining and writing funny, scary mysteries. Marian and Rhonda write their mystery series via the internet. While many fans who attend mystery conventions have now chatted with both halves of Evelyn David, Marian and Rhonda have yet to meet in person.

A New Ride by Evelyn David

We're Back: Bigger, Badder, and hopefully Wiser. Well, maybe two out of the three.

Change ain't easy. At least for the collective Evelyn David. You're looking at two people who often insist that "if it ain't broke, don't fix it," which is a great excuse for not changing anything at all. Our once fervent hope was to keep things "just the way they are." So sometimes kicking and screaming, sometimes holding our collective breath, and sometimes with open arms, both halves of Evelyn David have confronted challenging situations over the last twelve months and, in spite of ourselves, have undergone a whole lot of change. And much to our surprise, if we say so ourselves, we've emerged the better for it. As that famous writer, anonymous, once said, "If nothing ever changed, there'd be no butterflies."

There were health crises, family crises, work crises, but thank God, those are behind us (poo, poo, as the original Evelyn would add to ward off the evil eye.) But the net effect is that there were months when the only writing we were doing as collaborators were e-mails to check on one another.

We had to pause and reevaluate where we wanted to go with our fiction writing - where we wanted to be in five or ten years. We also had to deal with the insecurities that most writers face when the last book has been out a few months and the new one isn't on the horizon yet. For us, taking a break, even an enforced one, wasn't a good thing. Writing, like riding a bicycle, is much easier to accomplish if you keep pedaling. If you stop, you lose momentum, fall, and worse yet, may never get going again.

But spring finally arrived and with it came renewal: physically, spiritually, and emotionally. Maybe things weren't normal as we had known them, but now there was a "new normal," and we were stronger and ready to tackle it. We decided to recommit ourselves to growing as mystery writers. Stagnation wasn't an option. There were new stories to be written–and the ideas, some crazy, some not, started flying back and forth between New York and Oklahoma. We refocused and rather than be reactive to circumstances, made conscious decisions about our professional future.

With great respect and appreciation for the opportunities afforded us by our original publisher, we made the decision to move on. We are proud, excited, heck downright giddy, to announce that Wolfmont Press (http://www.wolfmont.com) helmed by the incredible Tony Burton, is reissuing in print and e-book formats the first two books of the Sullivan Investigations Series. *Murder Off the Books*, with a new cover and one significant detail changed, will be published at the end of this month. It's already available in Kindle and for the i-Pad. The trade paperback edition of *Murder Takes the Cake* will be released in November. It too is already available in e-book format. And finally, we can scarcely contain our delight to tell you that plans are in the works for book three, *Murder Drops the Ball*, to be published in all formats in spring, 2011. Mac Sullivan, Rachel Brenner, Whiskey and the whole crazy cast of characters are back investigating, squabbling, and dancing around the new year and new relationships. It has a story to die for, humor to make you laugh out loud, characters you know and love, and the gentle giant, Whiskey, the Irish wolfhound.

Robert C. Gallagher said, "Change is inevitable - except from a vending machine." So things are changing and so are we. Hope you'll join us on the ride. Fasten your seatbelts, it may be bumpy, but it's going to be fun! Check our website athttp://www.evelyndavid.com for more details and our appearance schedule.

Rhonda's work space - Marian says hers looks the same but with a diet coke on the desk

Just heard from Tony about availability of a Nook version. He said that both books (and the forthcoming one too!) are available for the Kindle and the i-Pad, i-Phone. You can purchase the "i-variations" directly from the Apple Store. There's good news and bad news for the Nook version. The bad news is that Barnes and Noble has been slow in responding to Tony's request to upload the digital versions of the books for the Nook. The good news is that he will post both books in digital format for the Nook at his Digital Bookstore, http://digital-bookshop.com/zencart/

It will take about 10 days for it to be available, but he and we are delighted that our books can be read in lots of different ways!

Again, thanks for stopping by and for all the good wishes,Marian, Rhonda...and of course, Whiskey

Update on Nook format: You know how when someone tells you they can have something done in a few days and you automatically double that timeframe so not to be disappointed? Marian and I are going to have to learn that with Tony Burton - we should cut the days to hours. He just let us know that both books are now available at The Digital Bookstore in ebook format suitable for Nook and other ebook readers. http://digital-bookshop.com/zencart/ To celebrate - the price is 15% off until the end of the month.

To those who wanted ePub versions of the books for their Nooks, Sony ereaders, and so on: I hustled really hard and just finished putting the ePub versions of both Murder Off the Books and Murder Takes the Cake onto The Digital Bookshop (www.digital-bookshop.com). And as an added flourish, I've taken 15% off the regular retail through the end of the month!

"Oh, Kaye!" A monthly feature at Jungle Red

Look for me at Jungle Red the first Sunday of each month. Just click this picture and you will magically arrive in the land of Jungle Red Writers. Eight smart and sassy crime fiction writers dish on writing and life. It's The View. With bodies. - And now, me. As resident commentator, reader, visionary, mystery maven, arbiter, pundit and prognosticator. Kind of like Andy Rooney, 'cept I'm still living

Harley's New book

WOMEN'S SPACES WOMEN'S PLACES

CLOTHES LINES from 75 Western North Carolina Women Writers

CLOTHES LINES from 75 Western North Carolina Women Writers

I'm a lover of words and a lover of images.

The photos you see in the blog posts were mostly shot by me or by husband Donald. Or, they're old family photos - a lovely little benefit of being a part of families who recognized the beauty of preserving our history through photography.

If the photos are not ours, I have tried whenever possible to caption or link the photos to their source. This hasn't always been possible as there are a lot of uncredited images available through the internet.

The photos in the sidebar were not all shot by me or Donald.

Those that we did not shoot are images I'm sharing from Facebook, Tumblr, Google and/or other places.

My sincere thanks to the generosity of so many talented photographers who so graciously share their work for so many of us to enjoy, share and learn from.

IF you see a photo here that is a copyright infringement, please send me an email (barleykw @ appstate dot com) and I'll remove it immediately.

Books Read During 2015

Every year I promise myself I'm going to keep a log of books I'm reading. And I immediately forget. Then I remember again, but only after I've already read a few books, but can't be sure I'll remember them all and so - - can't bring myself to start the list. It's sort of like missing the first 30 minutes of a movie. I just can't watch it if I've missed the beginning. And being the anal ol' soul I am, I can't bring myself to start a list if I can't be sure it's going to be a complete one.So.I decided to keep a list during 2010 and found it to be a fun thing. Especially for a compulsive list-maker like myself.

THE MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE OF THE RELUCTANT BOOK FAIRY by Elizabeth George (ARC)

THE NATURE OF THE BEAST by Louise Penny (ARC)

THE WITCH OF BOURBON STREET by Suzanne Palmieri (ARC)

UNDERSTANDING PAT CONROY by Catherine Seltzer

GHOST IMAGE by Ellen Crosby

NEVER DIE ALONE by Lisa Jackson (ARC)

MULTIPLE EXPOSURE by Ellen Crosby

A DIFFERENT REFLECTION by Jane L. Gibson (ARC)

MEMORY MAN by David Baldacci

DESOLATION ROW by Kay Kendall

THE FORGOTTEN ROOM by Lincoln Child (ARC)

THE TRUTH ACCORDING TO US by Annie Barrows (ARC)

THE OTHER DAUGHTER by Lauren Willig (ARC)

WYLDING HALL by Elizabeth Hand (ARC)

THE TRAVELLING TEASHOP by Belinda Jones

NOWHERE BUT HOME by Liza Palmer

LIAR'S BENCH by Kim Michele Richardson (ARC)

STEALING MARILYN MONROE by Sophie Warren

THE WEDDING CAKE TREE by Melanie Hudson (ARC)

THE SOUND OF GLASS by Karen White (ARC)

THE FAERIE TREE by Jane Cable (ARC)

BEING AUDREY HEPBURN by Mitchell Kriegman

THE THIRD WIFE by Lisa Jewell (ARC)

THE SUMMER OF GOOD INTENTIONS by Wendy Francis (ARC)

THE STRANGER by Harlan Coben

CREATURE COMFORTS by Trisha Ashley (ARC)

BRADSTREET GATE by Robin Kirman (ARC)

PLANTATION SHUDDERS by Ellen Byron (ARC)

THE WOMAN IN THE PHOTOGRAPH by Dana Gynther (ARC)

PLAY ON: NOW, THEN, AND FLEETWOOD MAC: THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY by Mick Fleetwood and Anthony Bozza

BEFORE I WAKE by Anne Frasier

HUGO AND ROSE by Bridgette Foley ( ARC)

SOMEONE IS WATCHING by Joy Fielding (ARC)

PERMANENT SPRING SHOWERS by Scott D. Southard (ARC)

TRIGGER WARNING by Neil Gaiman

NIGHTBIRD by Alice Hoffman (ARC)

THE IDEA OF LOVE by Patti Callahan Henry (ARC)

PLEASANT DAY by Vera Jane Cook (ARC)

PARIS, HE SAID by Christine Sneed (ARC)

THE GHOSTS OF PEPPERNELL MANOR by Amy M. Reade (ARC)

HUSH HUSH by Laura Lippman

MURDER IN HINDSIGHT by Anne Cleeland (ARC)

MURDER IN RETRIBUTION by Anne Cleeland

MURDER IN THRALL by Anne Cleeland

THE ART OF BAKING BLIND by Sarah Vaughn (ARC)

LITTLE BLACK LIES by Sandra Block (ARC)

BLUEPRINTS by Barbara Delinsky (ARC)

THE GUEST COTTAGE by Nancy Thayer (ARC)

LAVINA by Mary Marcus (ARC)

IN WILDERNESS: A NOVEL by Diane Thomas (ARC)

WHAT HAPPENS IN TUSCANY by T.A. Williams (ARC)

IT STARTED AT SUNSET COTTAGE by Bella Osborne (ARC)

THE WOMAN IN THE MOVIE STAR DRESS by Praveen Asthana

THE DWELLING PLACE by Elizabeth Musser

THE BODY AT WRAPP'S MILL: A Grist Mill Mystery with Marcy Dehanne by Celia H. Miles

WOMEN IN CLOTHES by Sheila Heti and Heidi Julavits

THE CATALAIN BOOK OF SECRETS by Jessica Lourey

WINTER AT THE DOOR by Sarah Graves

WEST OF SUNSET by Stewart O'Nan

THE MAGNIFICENT SPINSTER by May Sarton

THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN by Paula Hawkins

A FRENCH PIROUETTE by Jennifer Bohnet

SEASON OF THE DRAGONFLIES by Sarah Creech

LAND OF ENCHANTMENT by Liza Wieland (ARC)

WALKING ON TRAMPOLINES by Frances Whiting (ARC)

FTC Disclosure Notice

FTC has a new regulation which went into effect in December, 2009 which says, basically - "Amateur Bloggers to Disclose Freebies or Be Fined." Significantly fined. So. Since I happen to be an amateur blogger who sometimes receives free books, here's my required FTC Disclosure Notice: Dear FTC - Regarding review copies of books obtained for this blog. No other compensation is accepted beyond review copies of books - ever. When I do write a review, or opinion, the source of the book cited will be disclosed in the post in which the review/opinon appears. If you have questions, please feel free to contact me.